September 26, 2009 by Rob.

In tweaking my aux voltage, I finally blew my Astrodyne DC-DC regulator.  The poor beast had major acid damage so it was about time.

Posted in Improvements | 1 Comment »

June 4, 2009 by Rob.

Yes, the RAVolt is still going strong.  Sorry about the lack of updates.  I’ll explain all soon.I’ve been commuting 40 miles/day and the RAVolt is just not up for that.  The Fit is awesome (38+ MPG).I lost my auxiliary battery charger recently and ran down my “starter” battery.  After buying a new charger, the battery is slowly getting back to speed.  I know that there are some traction pack chargers & DC-DC supplies that also trickle charge the aux battery.   I would recommend this approach for EV conversions!

Posted in Daily Use, Improvements, Storyline | 1 Comment »

March 18, 2009 by Rob.

Looks like I can post from my phone. Can. Should? Not sure.

Poor RAVolt misses being driven. Unfortunately, the batteries do worse without load so it’s hard to guage range after not driving for a week. I decided not leave the EV at home for a trip I’ve EVed before. Maybe warmer weather will help.

Posted in Conversion | 1 Comment »

October 19, 2008 by Rob.

We had a busy weekend out at the Austin Maker Faire!  As usual, it was a great event.  Better coordinated than last year and bigger too.  I liked the addition of the Robot Wars.

Alex had a great time showing people how to hack their Wii Motes and even got a blue ribbon!  We had some interesting generational challenges because saying “mod wii mote” sounds like “may we mate” to a segments of the population.  Technology brings so much new vocabulary that it’s easy to forget not everyone immediately parses “google blogs from blackberries.”

Since I was busy with Alex, the RAVolt was left with her EV friends in the other part of the barn.  It was nice to drop in and see so many of the AustinEV/SanAntonioEV crowd (Aaron, Chris, Brian, Gary, and Alphonso).  Since Aaron brought the charger we were able to drive electric both days to the Faire!

Posted in Pictures, Storyline, AustinEV | 1 Comment »

August 27, 2008 by Rob.

I got an email from Kurt B today asking about lessons learned.  I’ve been meaning to post this for a while so I thought it would be good to recap. The “improvements” category also flags posts with ideas.

1. get 110 VAC charger instead of 220
2. get a better DC-DC converter that can trickle charge the aux battery and has a choke voltage instead of just shutting off
3. upgrade the rear suspension
4. skip the power steering pump work - it’s not needed.
5. weld supports for the front battery box to the frame. My box rests on part of the engine mount and I’m not crazy about that.
6. learn to weld (buy a welder). I did not need much welding, but it would have been nice to be independent.

Added 8/31: I’d also put the volt meter higher on the dashboard so that I did not have to look away to read it.  The analog meter is fine - I’m very happy with that.

Posted in Improvements, Planning | 1 Comment »

August 20, 2008 by Rob.

Sure it’s hot - that’s what fans are for.

Posted in Daily Use, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

August 16, 2008 by Rob.

Last year’s Maker Faire was a must see event.  The RAVolt and AustinEV gang are planning to be there again.   I think my (lil) makers will have their own table with Wii mods - so bring your Wii mote to get it pimped.

Posted in AustinEV, Planning | 1 Comment »

August 14, 2008 by Rob.

Today I got to watch (and photograph - belated sorry to other drivers on Bee Caves) the RAVolt turning over four zeros!  That’s a huge milestone for the glider and over 3,400 electric miles.

An, yes, the old gas gauge is covered with a sticker that says “Outta Gas! Running on E-”  I simply can’t resist EV geek jokes (non-geek translation E- = electrons).

Almost…   Spinning…

There it is!

Posted in Daily Use, Pictures, Storyline | 1 Comment »

August 9, 2008 by Rob.

I decided to swing by today’s AustinEV meeting and it turned out to be a good thing… there was some confusion about the date and I was the only EV owner there for an hour.  We had a big crowd of EV curious (hopefuls?) and I love a stage!  Each meeting seems to bring out more and better informed enthusiasts. I hope some of them decide to take the plunge.

It looks like production EVs are about 3 years off so the urge for conversions will *probably* start to decrease.  If that happens, I suspect we’ll go from a conversion club to an driving experience focus.

Brian “Lasso” Lasseter rescued the meeting and we expanded the topics beyond just conversions to larger market trends.  I also got to see the excellent job he did with his Saturn SL conversion.  Very clean!  He chose 18 batteries (and gets 50 mile range) and also included an AC compressor.

Posted in EVents, Electric Vehicles, Pictures, AustinEV | 3 Comments »

July 30, 2008 by Rob.

Wow…quick response from the AustinEV team!  Thanks.

From Brian:

It’s Cupric Sulfate.  It’s formed by the reaction of Sulfuric Acid (in the air, bubbling off from the battery) with the exposed copper of the battery wire lugs. On the plus side… It’s no longer reactive after forming Cupric Sulfate, so it will not hurt anything.  And another positive, is that it’s the copper lugs that are corroding… and they can be replaced
much easier than the lead battery terminals.  

I do not think it’s a big problem.  If you were really concerned, you could re-tin the copper lugs, or put some waterproof paint over the lugs and terminals.  Waterproof paint would make it much more annoying
to change / remove your wiring at a later date though.   :-/

From Mike:

Try coating the exposed surfaces with vaseline.  It will keep the air and
moisture off and greatly reduce corrosion.  There are several brands of
spray on corrosion preventative, but from past experience vaseline works
just as well, cleanup is pretty easy, and it is cheap.

From Roy:

I get that a lot too, it does not effect conductivity for me.
I usually brusk off the powder with a stiff nylon brush and vacume it up.

Posted in Safety, Daily Use, Improvements, Electric Vehicles, AustinEV | 1 Comment »